At Melbourne, December 9 (day/night). South Africa won by 45 runs. Toss: South Africa.

A bouncy MCG pitch yielded just enough seam to make batsmen mistrust their instincts. It says much about the quality of South Africa's bowling that they had beaten Australia twice without any of their batsmen reaching 50. Klusener's pace drew a stream of edges and excellent figures of five for 24, enabling South Africa to bowl Australia out for 125. The economical Symcox continued to slip through the Australians' guard and under their skin. Mark Waugh hit him 15 rows into the Great Southern Stand, but Symcox took revenge when Waugh top-edged a cut to backward point. Reiffel twinged a hamstring, weakening Australia's pace attack still further.

Man of the Match: L. Klusener. Attendance: 55,673.

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